Something is just brewing inside of me that needs to come out...
This primarily an emotional response but there's some logic and reason that gird it...
Try as I might, I just can't help myself...
Flat out, I...
umm...
OK, here it is... I...
really like
my job...
and I almost consider it a privilege to work there (though I'm an unabashed capitalist and unionist).
The patients...
Some of my patients truly touch me... and I feel tinges of what the "it's a calling" crowd must be referring.
Some of the patients are trying... but even many of them are an adventure...
And some of the patients are complete jerks... and mostly I just blow them off and pat myself on the back for not letting them win the emotional tug-of-war in which they insist on engaging.
I had a patient on whom a colleague asked me to start an IV... she was being confrontational. I'm always up for a good confrontation so I took the bait. At one point she said, "Your bedside manner sucks." I replied, "Yep, it does... but I'm really, really good at this so you need to decide if you want a 'one-and-done' IV stick by me or repeated pokes by Nancy-NiceNurse." She picked me and we ultimately found a functional way to interact.
My coworkers...
Most of them are kind and decent people who've got my back. It's almost like being in the military again.
A (minute) few of them are catty and, um, doggie, but I actually enjoy engaging them and trying to win them over. Since I refuse to be respect someone's attempt to block me out and push me away... and because I continue to go out of my way to be helpful, we generally end up in pretty decent working relationship.
The docs
Oh yes, the physicians... they can be a pretty pushy, demanding, demeaning group of people..... whom I refuse to treat, or address, any differently than I do anybody else.
However, nearly all of the ED docs, are really great to work with... love to teach... will happily engage if engaged... and recognize how much the patients need the nurses in order for anything to get done.
Medical residents? I find them to be some of the most interesting people I've ever been around and I would hate to work someplace without them. (They also don't get ***** when I call them... and if they do, they're ~just~ residents :-)
Even some of the attending MDs with ferocious reputations among the staff, have their way about them, and I enjoy figuring out how to connect. Sometimes it's by learning a lesson from doggie dominance... wherein I basically expose my throat and give them the option to rip it out... from then on, we usually get on fine... and I take barbs really well and can turn almost everything into a joke.
Management...
Well, I've got my gripes, to be sure... but having been a senior manager with direct reports and budgetary authority... I also recognize that (a) I probably *couldn't* do it any better and (b) that I wouldn't want to even if I could.
I've had a lot of bosses in my life and I can easily say that the food chain where I currently work is populated by a pretty good group of folks, especially by comparison to some that I've work for.
Money...
Could I earn more? Sure. Have I earned more? Well, actually not... though I work an insane amount of OT to get it.
Being an hourly, non-exempt employee under a codified contract (I'm a fan of the California Nurses Association) is a great way to work. I've been salaried/exempt... I've been at-will... I've worked as much as I do now but not been paid for it... and I've recently worked in nursing for $25/hr less than I presently earn with scant benefits... Yes, I earn twice what I earn at my last FT nursing job.
I've got a good thing going... and we're not the highest paid nurses in the region... by any means... but we've got very good bennies and a good work environment.
So, for anybody who's looking for a reason to go into nursing, I can say that, if I could magically change and be a doc or a pilot, I would, but nursing can lead to a very good thing... though it's not a given by any means.
To summarize: I am a nurse, I am happy to be a nurse, and... while it's not cool to admit, I hereby confess that I *like* my job.
